We had the 1st visit with the new farrier today. The appointment was long, but I really like the
work he does and the way he took his time with Chance. He spends a lot of time looking at each foot, trimming slowly to shape it the way it will help the horse in everyway. It is an art and he really enjoys his job. Chance tested him the entire time, he doesn't trust men and wasn't crazy about giving up his feet to this new guy. He is going to have to earn them. He didn't do anything to try to hurt him he just continued to pull his feet away over and over again for the entire trim which lasted about 2 hrs. When he pulls his feet away he does it without any warning, very quickly and puts his weight into it. There is no holding on. Kirk never once lost his patience and did everything he could think of to keep Chance comfortable. He gave him many breaks and tons of positive reinforcement everytime Chance gave some try. Along with the trust issues he also had quite a bit of ouchiness in those front feet. It was painful to hold one up for any amount of time. Kirk gave him a lot of credit for everything he was able to do and I give Kirk a lot of credit for the amound of patience he showed my horse. Punishing Chance is not an option, he reacts out of fear and self-preservation. When he does react you can see that he is just waiting for the human reaction, punishment. I am trying to teach him that humans can be kind, I can ignore the bad stuff and react to the good stuff with love and kindness.
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Life is a journey...enjoy the ride
About Me
The Horsewoman's Prayer
Dearest God in Heaven,
Give me the strength to guide my horse, make my hands soft and my head clear. Let my horse understand me and I him. My heart you have blessed with a special love of these animals, let me never lose sight of it. My soul you have gifted with a deep need for them, let that need never lessen.
Always let my breath catch as the sun gleams on an elegant head. Always let my throat tighten at the sound of a gentle nicker. Let the scent of fresh hay and a new bag of grain always be sweet to me. Let the warm touch of a soft nose on my hand always bring me a smile. I adore the joy of a warm day on the farm. The grace and spendor of a running horse, the thunder of it's hooves makes my eyes burn and my heart soar, let it always be so.
Grant me patience, for horses are harnessed wind and
wind can be flighty. Let me not frighten or harm them,
instead show me ways to understand them. When I pass from this world, send my soul to no heaven without them,
For this love you have given me graces my existence and
I shall cherish it, and praise You for it, for all time. Amen
Author Unknown
Dearest God in Heaven,
Give me the strength to guide my horse, make my hands soft and my head clear. Let my horse understand me and I him. My heart you have blessed with a special love of these animals, let me never lose sight of it. My soul you have gifted with a deep need for them, let that need never lessen.
Always let my breath catch as the sun gleams on an elegant head. Always let my throat tighten at the sound of a gentle nicker. Let the scent of fresh hay and a new bag of grain always be sweet to me. Let the warm touch of a soft nose on my hand always bring me a smile. I adore the joy of a warm day on the farm. The grace and spendor of a running horse, the thunder of it's hooves makes my eyes burn and my heart soar, let it always be so.
Grant me patience, for horses are harnessed wind and
wind can be flighty. Let me not frighten or harm them,
instead show me ways to understand them. When I pass from this world, send my soul to no heaven without them,
For this love you have given me graces my existence and
I shall cherish it, and praise You for it, for all time. Amen
Author Unknown
He knows when you're happy
He knows when you're comfortable
He knows when you're confident
And he always know when you have carrots.
~Author Unknown
He knows when you're comfortable
He knows when you're confident
And he always know when you have carrots.
~Author Unknown
"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway".
by John Wayne
by John Wayne
Somewhere in time's own space
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some paradise where horses go,
For by the love that guides my pen
I know great horses live again.
~Stanley Harrison
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some paradise where horses go,
For by the love that guides my pen
I know great horses live again.
~Stanley Harrison
6 comments:
You say he takes his foot away with no warning... keep looking, keep attending. I'm certain he gives a warning but nobody has taken notice yet of what that warning is. Maybe look for his "request" to have his foot back. Might just be a change in his eye, not even a twitch or shift of balance in his body. You'll find what it is!
I'll have to have somebody watch his face for me when I'm working with his feet. It is so unpredictable and I really can't feel any change in his body at all! He always stands very politely and picks his feet up for me but pulls away quickly and with all his weight. I have tried picking them up without doing anything to them and many times I will give it back to him before he pulls. Sometimes when I'm working with a back foot he will pick the other one up and 'hop' down on the one I am holding. He never tries to walk away, infact sometimes I don't even halter him. For the farriers sake I hope we can figure this out! He was exhausted after yesterdays visit.
I'm concerned about a couple of things. If Chance keeps taking his foot away rather than waiting for K to give it back, isn't he reinforcing that behavior? He thinks he needs to yank his foot away and then he does, so he may think that this is something he needs to do to stay safe. Maybe we need to teach him that he can give us his feet and stay safe, and that we will give the foot back when he "gives".
The other thing that concerns me is that 2 hours is a very long time to have your feet worked on. It would be good for Chance if K could work faster. K may be able to work faster if C can let him have his feet.
Thoughts?
The visit was very long! Too long for Chance (and me) and hopefully it was only because it was the 1st visit. Also the visit was long because Chance kept pulling his feet away. There were a couple of issues, I think it is a safety issue, giving up his feet is giving up his only way out. I think it was also a man issue. Since he has been with me the only man to work with him was the other farrier. Chance wasn't crazy about him but the visits got better, the 1st visit was explosive. This visit with K actually better. Greg worked with him in May, but that was a clinic and he had to work through that 1st day in the round pen before Chance trusted him. David and Derek are going to start doing some little things with him, my thoughts are that maybe some positive interactions with men will be good.
When I work on his feet in between farrier visits the behavior starts to improve. The 1st time right after is usually the same, he pulls and it takes me forever to get his feet picked out. Right before the next farrier visit he is usually doing pretty good, holding his feet up and trying very hard. Then the farrier comes and we start over.
I have talked with Karina about this. Her thoughts are that as Chance learns to give up his body and have nothing bad happen to him he will learn to trust. She said I should have him walk over tarps, poles, cavaleties etc. This will help him with the idea of giving up his feet from the ground. My thoughts are that he has spent the 1st year with me opening up and waking up, now the trust will start to seep in there.
K did lots of different things to try and help C through the appt. He gave his feet back before C pulled, he did some massaging, he tried to hold on and then release when C relaxed. I even did some leg messaging and asked C for his feet. He was better with me but it's K he needs to learn to trust.
I'll try having somebody watch his face like ljb suggested. Maybe he is asking and I can't see it.
Just one more comment, Karina said that in some rare instances she has seen that if done right laying a horse down can teach them to trust by giving up the whole body. She does not do this to horses and does not want to try this with Chance. But she did mentioned using hobbles to teach the same thing. She has done this with other horses with very good results. I would have to have more information on this and actually see it done before I let anyone try it with Chance.
Any thoughts out there?
Too bad you missed Bryan's clinic! He laid a horse down there. Not something I would do without guidance, but it went very smoothly. Actually, this horse at the clinic chose to lie down. He had a leg hobbled. While he was down, Bryan showed us what he would do if the horse was really not trusting. This horse was, so it was just an example.
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